huma abedin coming to his defense, taking to the microphone. so many people are wondering why she did that this morning. >>> also this morning, we're going to look at nicole polizzi. you may remember her as snooki. this is an entirely different-looking young lady, by the way. and she said it's more than just the outside she changed. >> good for her. >>> we have a packed hour. let's get to josh. >> we're going to start with breaking news from moscow. russia has granted whistleblower edward snowden to leave the airport and stay in the country where he applied for asylum. members of congress are going to vote on whether to stop the agency from collecting information without a warrant. >>> the other big story this morning, in the gulf of mexico, a natural gas well burning out of control, 55 miles off the coast of louisiana. thankfully, all of the workers on the rig have been safely evacuated. crews are considering how to best fight this fire and plug the leak. >>> and former congressman anthony weiner is facing new backlash over his latest sexting